Episodes

  • And, But, So: Practical Legal-Writing Tips from the Brief-Writing Ninja | Chris Schandevel

    And, But, So: Practical Legal-Writing Tips from the Brief-Writing Ninja | Chris Schandevel
    May 28 2026
    Opposing counsel once called Chris Schandevel a "brief-writing ninja." He took it as a compliment. Years later, as he considered ways to add value to attorneys coming up behind him, Chris channeled that nickname into a side job: Brief-Writing Ninja, his training platform to help lawyers improve their writing skills. Why? Because good writing is good writing—whether you’re writing for a court or a high school essay. In this conversation with hosts Todd Smith and Jody Sanders, Chris shares practical tips such as replacing “moreover” with “and”; “nevertheless” with “even still”; and “accordingly” or “however” with “but.” The panel deliberates over questions that should concern any writer. Can you start a sentence with a conjunction? Should lawyers master “styles” in Word? Is Century Schoolbook a worthy font? Tune in for the answers.Download Chris's Brief-Writing Ninja Legal Style Guide here.Connect and Learn More☑️ Chris Schandevel | LinkedIn☑️ Brief-Writing Ninja on LinkedIn☑️ Alliance Defending Freedom on Facebook | Instagram | X | LinkedIn | YouTube☑️ Todd Smith | LinkedIn | X☑️ Jody Sanders | LinkedIn | X☑️ Texas Appellate Law Podcast on LinkedIn | X | Instagram☑️ Texas Appellate Counsel PLLC☑️ Kelly Hart & Hallman, LLP | LinkedIn☑️ Subscribe Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | YouTubeProduced and Powered by LawPodsSponsored by Court Surety Bond Agency and Proceed.
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    1 hr and 8 mins
  • Inside the Texas State Law Library | Amy Small

    Inside the Texas State Law Library | Amy Small
    May 14 2026
    “We have just anything you could think of,” Amy Small says of the Texas State Law Library, where she is executive director. Open to all—no attorney license required—the library serves everyday Texans and the Supreme Court alike. In this episode, hosts Jody Sanders and Todd Smith invite Amy to unpack the library’s often-overlooked resources: remote access to HeinOnline, historical statutes back to 1879, eBooks with persistent annotations, Westlaw and Lexis access on the library’s public computers, and several dictionary collections. If your online research skills need a refresher, watch on YouTube as Amy shares her screen and navigates a database in real time. Stay tuned in as Amy recalls fielding a seventh-grade classroom’s question about the weirdest law in Texas. Hint: It has something to do with astronauts and voting.The Texas State Law Library accepts questions by phone from 8 a.m. to 4:45 p.m., Monday through Friday, and on its website. Visual references are included in this episode. Watch on YouTube to follow along with Amy’s screen shares.Connect and Learn More☑️ Amy Small | LinkedIn☑️ Texas State Law Library on LinkedIn | Instagram | Facebook | X | YouTube☑️ Todd Smith | LinkedIn | X☑️ Jody Sanders | LinkedIn | X☑️ Texas Appellate Law Podcast on LinkedIn | X | Instagram☑️ Texas Appellate Counsel PLLC☑️ Kelly Hart & Hallman, LLP | LinkedIn☑️ Subscribe Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | YouTubeProduced and Powered by LawPodsSponsored by Court Surety Bond Agency and Proceed.
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    53 mins
  • Election Litigation in Texas: A Niche Practice with Sharp Edges | Elizabeth Alvarez

    Election Litigation in Texas: A Niche Practice with Sharp Edges | Elizabeth Alvarez
    Apr 30 2026
    Election law in Texas is “very demanding” and “stressful because of the accelerated nature of the calendar,” says Elizabeth D. Alvarez. Elizabeth is head of civil litigation/election litigation at Guest & Gray and a 12-year election litigation practitioner who has represented state parties, national parties, and candidates on both sides of the aisle. She tells hosts Todd Smith and Jody Sanders that roughly 90% of Texas election litigation flows from the statutory writ of mandamus and injunction under Chapter 273 of the Election Code, and that fewer than 30 lawyers in the state have litigated a writ more than three times. She also tackles election integrity, calling voting machines "safer than paper." Tune in for her war story about winning an election contest that was so strange she felt like she was living in a John Grisham novel.Connect and Learn More☑️ Elizabeth D. Alvarez☑️ Guest & Gray | Facebook | LinkedIn | Justicia | Instagram☑️ Todd Smith | LinkedIn | X☑️ Jody Sanders | LinkedIn | X☑️ Texas Appellate Law Podcast on LinkedIn | X | Instagram☑️ Texas Appellate Counsel PLLC☑️ Kelly Hart & Hallman, LLP | LinkedIn☑️ Subscribe Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | YouTubeProduced and Powered by LawPodsSponsored by Court Surety Bond Agency and Proceed.
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    59 mins
  • Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics: Judicial Accountability and the Future of the Central Docket | Judge Amy Clark Meachum

    Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics: Judicial Accountability and the Future of the Central Docket | Judge Amy Clark Meachum
    Apr 23 2026
    Judge Amy Clark Meachum, the Local Administrative Judge for Travis County, joins hosts Todd Smith and Jody Sanders to unpack recent legislation affecting the Texas judiciary and what it means for how courts operate today. Judge Meachum traces the escalating reporting and accountability mandates imposed on Texas trial courts through the 88th and 89th Legislatures; explains the central docket fight and how the Supreme Court's latest rule amendments will affect the Travis County system; and breaks down the new summary judgment rule’s impact on the courts. The pressure to perform on paper is real, she says—judges are managing their dockets with one eye on clearance rates and the other on the State Commission on Judicial Conduct. "No one's checking your substance. They're just checking your numbers. And that's why I call it lies, damn lies, and statistics." Her advice for practitioners: file your summary judgment motion only when it's ready and will be worth the judge’s time.Connect and Learn More☑️ Judge Amy Clark Meachum | LinkedIn☑️ 201st Civil District Court☑️ Todd Smith | LinkedIn | X☑️ Jody Sanders | LinkedIn | X☑️ Texas Appellate Law Podcast on LinkedIn | X | Instagram☑️ Texas Appellate Counsel PLLC☑️ Kelly Hart & Hallman, LLP | LinkedIn☑️ Subscribe Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | YouTubeProduced and Powered by LawPodsSponsored by Court Surety Bond Agency and Proceed.
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    56 mins
  • AI in the Judiciary: Power, Limits, and the Social Contract | Judge Scott Schlegel

    AI in the Judiciary: Power, Limits, and the Social Contract | Judge Scott Schlegel
    Mar 31 2026
    When a lawyer messes up by using an AI platform that produces mistakes, they might get sanctioned by a judge. When a judge messes up using an AI platform, “it could become precedent. So, it’s a much different conversation.” Judge Scott Schlegel, of Louisiana's Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, speaks from his experience as an early leader in courtroom efficiency. Today, he supports a measured judicial approach to AI with this guiding principle: “It's not our job to be first. It's our job to get it right.” Tune in to this conversation with hosts Todd Smith and Jody Sanders to hear about his newer project: the Judicial AI Consortium (JAIC), which he is developing with U.S. Magistrate Judge Maritza Dominguez Braswell of Colorado and Judge Xavier Rodriguez of the Western District of Texas. The consortium is designed to be a simple forum where judges can “ask stupid questions, talk to each other about how you're using it, what you're seeing out there. Is it helpful? Is it useful? How far should we go?” About 200 judges around the country have signed up so far.Connect and Learn More☑️ Judge Scott Schlegel | LinkedIn☑️ United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit on LinkedIn | Instagram | YouTube☑️ Todd Smith | LinkedIn | X☑️ Jody Sanders | LinkedIn | X☑️ Texas Appellate Law Podcast on LinkedIn | X | Instagram☑️ Texas Appellate Counsel PLLC☑️ Kelly Hart & Hallman, LLP | LinkedIn☑️ Subscribe Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | YouTubeProduced and Powered by LawPodsSponsored by Court Surety Bond Agency and Proceed.
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    54 mins
  • The New Rule 166a: What Texas Lawyers Need to Know | Michael Duncan

    The New Rule 166a: What Texas Lawyers Need to Know | Michael Duncan
    Mar 12 2026
    The final version of rewritten Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 166a—the summary judgment rule—became effective March 1, 2026. In this episode, Michael Duncan, an appellate and motions practitioner in Austin who clerked for a Texas Supreme Court justice, unpacks the updated rule with hosts Todd Smith and Jody Sanders. Together, they examine what the Supreme Court changed for the better from the proposed amendment—clarifying the burden of proof for traditional motions, allowing parties to extend response deadlines by agreement, and explicitly requiring evidence with a traditional motion. They also flag new and unresolved concerns, such as the removal of "promptly" from the court's hearing-setting obligation and the potential for abuse of the filing-triggered response deadline. Michael also shares his comparison chart that untangles the four sets of standards governing motions filed during the transition period.Connect and Learn More☑️ Michael Duncan | LinkedIn☑️ Naman, Howell, Smith & Lee on LinkedIn | Instagram | Facebook☑️ Todd Smith | LinkedIn | X☑️ Jody Sanders | LinkedIn | X☑️ Texas Appellate Law Podcast on LinkedIn | X | Instagram☑️ Texas Appellate Counsel PLLC☑️ Kelly Hart & Hallman, LLP | LinkedIn☑️ Subscribe Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | YouTubeProduced and Powered by LawPodsSponsored by Court Surety Bond Agency and Proceed.
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    55 mins
  • Flipping the Script: How Texas Courts Can Improve Appellate Practice

    Flipping the Script: How Texas Courts Can Improve Appellate Practice
    Feb 26 2026
    In this episode, hosts Todd Smith and Jody Sanders share their list of crowdsourced “pet issues” that appellate courts could address to make practitioners' lives easier. Their goals, Todd explains, are to both identify areas for improvement and also to give them an opportunity to flesh out those topics in later episodes. If you’re a practitioner with thoughts about everything from modernizing the outdated civil docketing statement to standardizing sealed record procedures to adding a cross-appeal rule, chances are that Todd and Jody have thoughts, too. Tune in as they break down issues and suggest possible solutions. “If any judges, rules committee people, anybody ever wants to come on and talk about these, please let us know,” Jody says. “We would love to have other perspectives on it.” Connect and Learn More☑️ Todd Smith | LinkedIn | X☑️ Jody Sanders | LinkedIn | X☑️ Texas Appellate Law Podcast on LinkedIn | X | Instagram☑️ Texas Appellate Counsel PLLC☑️ Kelly Hart & Hallman, LLP | LinkedIn☑️ Subscribe Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | YouTubeProduced and Powered by LawPodsSponsored by Court Surety Bond Agency and Proceed (formerly Counsel Press).
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    54 mins
  • Permissive Appeals, SCAC, and the Reality of Texas Rulemaking | Rich Phillips

    Permissive Appeals, SCAC, and the Reality of Texas Rulemaking | Rich Phillips
    Feb 12 2026
    In this episode, we examine Texas’s permissive appeals statute and the rulemaking process that shapes how it operates in practice. To guide the discussion, hosts Todd Smith and Jody Sanders welcome Rich Phillips of Holland & Knight, who serves on the Texas Supreme Court Advisory Committee and recently presented a paper on permissive appeals. Rich pulls back the curtain on how procedural rules are developed and revised, then walks through the statute’s requirements and explains why permissive appeals are so often denied. The conversation also explores how courts interpret key statutory terms, how courts of appeals exercise their discretion, and what practitioners can learn from recent decisions in permissive appeals.Connect and Learn More☑️ Rich Phillips | LinkedIn☑️ Holland & Knight on LinkedIn | Instagram | Facebook | X | YouTube☑️ Todd Smith | LinkedIn | X☑️ Jody Sanders | LinkedIn | X☑️ Texas Appellate Law Podcast on LinkedIn | X | Instagram☑️ Texas Appellate Counsel PLLC☑️ Kelly Hart & Hallman, LLP | LinkedIn☑️ Subscribe
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    55 mins